Type 1 diagnosed Monday 27 years old

I'm T2 and it's a heck of a shock for everyone and it's normal to go nuts for a couple of months
most adjust their weight by the amount of carbs they eat, this will also adjust the amount of insulin needed with the meal

if don't look after your diabetes for years and you will have lots of problems, there are people here with it for 50 years and are fine...it really is up to you

forget reading the dead in bed stuff..start reading about carb counting

With respect, may I suggest you please stop searching the internet ... at least for now as I detect in your comments a fear that is consuming you that may be not be realised or is exaggerated. There are as many lies as there are truths out there and so much conflicting garbage, that you, as a newly diagnosed diabetic will not be able to get your head around, at least in the initial stages.

My strongest recommendation (backing up jack here) is to confine your initial searching and your questions to this forum. information and feedback is YOUR key to keeping this under control and there ain't any shortage of support.

Rest easy. I've been here only for a couple of months and the advice (and the friendships that have developed) have been tremendous.

Mike.

Everything you need to know for the present is here on this forum. The big secret is to start reading and sifting through its content. All the best for a great and fruitful start. Remember a positive mental attitude will get you on the Kings way.

Hi and welcome to the forum

Being diagnosed with diabetes is a big shock, the first weeks and months is the worst as there's so much information to take in and it can become overwhelming, but be assured it does get easier in time and you will eventually settle into a routine. As for your questions:

Initially when you start on insulin you will gain some of the weight that you lost prior to being diagnosed, but insulin itself won't cause weight gain provided you keep an eye on how many calories you consume, it's the same for anyone whether they have diabetes or not, if you eat too much you put on weight.

Injecting insulin does get easier the more times that you do it, if your unsure of any of the injection techniques ask your DSN to show you them, also make sure that your gp prescribes you the 4mm needles.

The internet wasn't around when I was diagnosed 33 years ago, so looking back now I do wish I had all the information available at the touch of a keyboard that people like yourself have now, there's some excellent information available on the web (and some very poor information) for people with diabetes and you shouldn't be afraid to use it, if you struggle with your control I have a few good links I can provide for you.

Finally, don't read the horror stories, yes it's good to be aware of the risks of uncontrolled diabetes but there's no reasons why you can't get a grip of it from the start, provided you take good care of yourself you can live a full & active life with type 1 diabetes.

Hello and welcome from me (Type 2, no meds).

Good luck on your journey. Remember, a suitable eating plan is the key to control. Try to get your head round that by reading this forum, and all will be well.

asyarlk said:

Thank you so much for all of your positive comments. It is a massive shock but with all of your advice I am starting to feel better. My aim is so have as much control as possible so that I can live a long, happy life.

Thank you so much. It's brilliant to speak to people in the same boat!!

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Good

Hello @asyarlk and welcome to the forum

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Carry on asking questions and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 100,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Hi and welcome. Late onset T1 can hit anyone as quite a shock as it did for me 10 years ago. This forum is brilliant as there is such a wide range of contributors virtually all who have diabetes of different types and degrees. Your weight will not increase by much unless you want it to. Insulin enables your body to use the carbs it couldn't before diagnosis. If you keep the carbs down you can keep the insulin shots down, minimise hypos and control your weight. You can always have more protein and fats to top-up calories. I don't find injecting painful in the stomach or thighs other than the occasional time when I hit a capilliary when I back-off. Are you using the smallest, 4mm, needle? If not do ask the nurse to change to the smallest size. If you can control your blood sugar by monitoring frequently enough and learning how much Basal and Bolus to use you will probably never suffer the long-term problems you read about. The ones who have to have surgery are frequently those who cannot or will not take control and keep blood sugar and weight down. The biggest problem many of us find as I did earlier when mis-diagnosed as a T2 is the appaling diet advice given by many professionals. Do follow what people say on the forum. As an insulin user it's not as critical as those on tablets but you can minmise hypos by controlling the carbs. Do ask more questions perhaps on the T1 forum

Hi!

I too am 27, and was diagnosed T1 on 11th November this year so as for shocks I know exactly how you feel.

I have no Diabetes in my family and had been living what I thought was a fairly healthy life. Suddenly I start losing weight, drinking and weeing all the time and within 6 hours of having some blood taken suddenly I was an insulin dependent diabetic.

It was extremely scary and emotional, double whammy for me as I had been trying for a baby and now need to wait until all under control. You can easily while away hours on the net looking up the hundreds of ways that it could shorten your life, or indeed control your life but I am taking the attitude that I am not going to let it.

Already I am getting a good control over my glucose levels and gathering as much information up as I possibly can to learn how best to control my disease rather than it control me. Life is too short anyway.

It's all so hard though as there is so much information initially when all you really want to do is curl up in bed after being given such life changing news, and not deal with hospital visits and friends and family trying to get their heads round it all. I have been really lucky and had lots of support, I hope it's the same for you.

Try and take some comfort in knowing that you are not alone and that thousands of people live long and relatively healthy lives with this disease, and things will get easier with time. My moto at the moment is if I have a good day then great, and if I have a bad day well that's fine too. It's early days and life changing, so just take it a day at a time. I too would be interested to hear if any T1s have any additional advice or guidance for these early days.

xx

Like some others in this thread I am also kinda new at this.

I was diagnosed last May, I am 29... I had pretty much the same experience as you - i thought i was normal and healthy, then all of a sudden i started loosing weight, and then started drinking and peeing a lot, then started to get really fatigued and eventually i was diagnosed as insulin dependent, and here we are!

I have done all the same internet searches as you likely have, had all the frightened moments and read all the things out there that exclaim complications and shorter lifespan yadda yadda, but my advice to you is this - Stop reading it!

2 things you have to understand -

The first is that when they list all those diabetic stats and complications they typically lump Type 1 and type 2 together, and overall most type 2's a much unhealthier then type 1's which skews the stats in that direction.

Secondly, As long as you keep your sugars under control you should lead a normal life. Its tougher now because you have to inject and closely monitor what you eat, and the timing of eating and injecting, but its doable. You will soon learn how your body reacts to certain foods, and what it feels like to be low and high, and how to deal with it, and as long as you listen to your body, and test your sugars regularly you should have little problems in controlling them!

That 'dead in bed' stuff is nonsense mostly - obviously now you cant get blackout drunk anymore, or try out heroin for the first time. If you are a normal person who checks there sugars before bed your body will sense something is wrong and wake you up. Once awake you simply have to check your sugars and act accordingly and everything will be fine.
I find that when my sugars are low while asleep i tend to start having bad dreams, and problems sleeping as soon as they get to be around 4mmol/l, mostly i wake up feeling really really hungry, and test to find them lower then i would like and so i eat a snack and go back to bed.


Oh, as far as 'putting on lots of weight' no lol you will put back on what you lost but no more, unless you over eat., insulin won't make you suddenly gain weight. The reason is that when your pancreas shut down your body couldn't use the energy from your food, and it started burning the stored fat, and just wasting whatever you ate. Now that the insulin is back you can use that food, and if you havent changed your eating and exercising habits you will likely just go back to where you were and thats all.

I lost 30 lbs, and gained back about 20lbs, and have been stable for like 6 months now, if anything I am slowly losing weight but its by choice.

asyarlk said:

Thank you all for your stories and help. It makes me feel a lot better to know that my experiences are very similar to many of you. Did a virus bring yours out? I have know idea what caused mine, I haven't been ill, although I have been very stressed!!

Also what kind if dietary changes have you made? I am eating carbs at every meal and my rapid insulin is 4 and my night time is 10. However I had my first hypo today, 2 hours after having porridge. I dropped quickly to 2.8mmol and had wine gums and lucozade to sort it out, then I soared to 17.7!! Probably too much sugar!! Learning all the time though

I'm also going to bed being quite low too (4.5-5). What should they be? Do I need to eat more carbs or lower the novorapid?

So much to learn!!

Thanks for all your help!!

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I'd ring your nurse and get advice, they are normally very helpful
they will send you on a course later, but this online course and workbooks may help a bit with background info,

There is an online course for background and an idea to it. Free to register

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

This set of workbooks are worth reading and practising working examples of carbs and doses and corrections. Don't change dose without nurse approvalyour nurse

Workbook 1

http://www.diabetesinscotland.org.uk/Publications/9225 Carbohydrate Counting.pdf

Workbook 2

http://www.diabetesinscotland.org.uk/Publications/9226 Carbohydrate Counting the Next Steps.pdf

Carb list

http://www.diabetesinscotland.org.uk/Publications/9227 Carbohydrate Tables A6.pdf

Diary

http://www.diabetesinscotland.org.uk/Publications/9228 Free Diary Portrait A4.pdf

Basal testing

http://www.diabetes-support.org.uk/info/?page_id=120


Sick day rules

http://www.diabetes-support.org.uk/info/?page_id=141

http://www.diabetes-healthnet.ac.uk...flet_-_Sick_Day_Rules_for_Type_1_-_Nov_13.pdf

Sick day rules flowchart

http://www.leicestershirediabetes.org.uk/uploads//documents/Type1 Sick_day_rules_InsulinV3.pdf

A workbook with USA numbers and math rules, but it has a good trouble shoot at the end

http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/download/insulin_adjustment_workbook_complete.pdf

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Welcome. There are many of us on here who have been T1s for a long duration (I'm currently at 26 years) and have managed to keep the horror stories at bay. This comes from making sure you look after yourself and control your blood sugar. While it may seem daunting at first, it will quickly become just something else that you do and you will be extremely familiar with it.

We are a friendly bunch here and are always willing to provide advice and insight based on our experiences, and we have plenty of them, and they are varied.

While it may feel scary and a huge shock, the best advice I can give you is the old JFDI approach. Take a pragmatic "I'm just going to get on with it" approach and you'll find your feet very quickly. For all the variety of information you will receive, it's really quite simple. Balance insulin and carbs. If you do this, your blood sugars will remain at a healthy level and you'll find that life returns back to a fairly normal existence.

Good luck, and most of all, don't forget to ask questions if you ever need advice. We're here to help!

Hi - I am type 1 - Insulin and diet control - now for 57 years <> No complications just getting old age aches!

My comment is short and to the point !

Learn what works for you once you have taken the time to understand the theory of Diabetic treatment and cause. Information is the key so you can apply what you have learnt.

Common sense is a great help.

Always tell your friends / colleagues that you are a diabetic - never hide it - you will get help / consideration when you least expect it.

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I can remember the days of glass syringes and large steel needles before BG test strips became available -

My motto is - I can do anything that anyone else can do provided I take my sandwiches with me. (Cheese and tomato sandwiches on a jet ski are rather unpleasant when they are splashed with salt water - Location 3 miles offshore at Blakeney , Norfolk !!!)

All good advice here so far, and the only thing that I think I can usefully add is that you won't get it all right all of the time Asyarlk. If you can get it right most of the time in the early days, you're probably doing better than most of us here and if you can get the support of the local Diabetes Specialist Nurse team, you'll do ok overall.
Less usefully, it might be that your GP has hundreds of Type 2 diabetics in their care but only a few Type 1s. The two conditions are very different (as you'll see by reading other threads on here) so it can be wise to make sure that they know you're Type 1 and on insulin when you see their team.

Hi! I was diagnosed in december 2013 with t1 diabetes, and i got it from a virus!! I really didn't like the idea of needles, but you have to come used to it because it's now a part of your life! It really isn't bad, the size of the needles is nothing! I put on a bit of weight but it's because you've lost weight and your body is getting back insulin so it's normal, but I know a lot of people who haven't put any weight on at all so it depends i guess! But I got back to normal weight in a time of a month
My advise to you is to get into a healthy life style, don't eat as much ****** food, because it effects your levels, make excersize a thing... Cant think of anything else but if you have any problems or want any help, give me a shout

Goodluck!

asyarlk said:

It's just been such a shock, especially with no family history.

My levels are going up and down like a yoyo. I feel ok, check my sugars and it's 6.8mmol then with very little movement, half an hour later it's 4.8. What do you all eat to move you up 1mmol? I had 2 digestives and went up to 10mmol!!

Thanks for all your replies. It's great having a chat with people who understand!!

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I normally use Dextro tabs (3 grams carb each) which put my BG up by 1 mmol/l per tab. You'll need to find what works for you as we can all be different.